E-WAVE Research on Professional Communication Practices : Written, Aural, & Visual
(Back to the Assignment Overview page)
The theory that drives this course suggests that ALL useful writing (or "composing") is completed for the benefit of a community with the expectation that some feedback or action will occur as a result. All writing or composing occurs, then, in the context of a knowledge community. The more we know about that knowledge community, the more likely our 'writing' will be useful, powerful, impressive, important, and worthy of action. When you write professionally, you aren't just writing. You are managing knowledge in and for a community.
The knowledge community associated with this class is the professional community that students hope to join when they graduate.
Professional Blog/Wiki Space
If you are going to write into a knowledge community, you need a space to which they have access. Blogs and wikis provide such a space and are well suited for our purposes.
Process:
Each person in the class will be creating blogs or wikis that provide a space for the serial collecting, annotating, and reviewing of professional materials or events:
places and spaces worth visiting physically or virtually
events that take place locally or online
From week 1 to week 9, I'll expect you to find, annotate, and review at least three sets of materials or events useful in your profession or in the academic disciplines related to that profession. By "find" I mean the obvious as well as collecting all the necessary bibliographic information so that you can cite these materials or events and so others can evaluate it/them for themselves (see Bedford St. Martin site for more details). By "annotate" I mean that you should direct us to the most important information (from your professional perspective) and accurately summarize what the material is about in 50 words or less. For instance, don't just give us the URL for a massive site. Direct us to the most useful material (deep linking). By "review" I mean give your perspective on the valuable of the materials or event. Reviews also provide a respectful "critique:" What's not there? What could you use in addition to these materials? Due Dates:
Four times during the term we'll share your blog work in class and I'll grade your professional blog.
Audiences:
Your professional blogs have many potential audiences. They include
Me and other teachers in professional communication programs
Other professionals who are working in the field or related fields (so that they can stay up to date)
High school & young OSU students who are interested in these professions and academic areas.
The general public so that they can understand the kind of work that goes on in these professions and disciplines. As a result, they'll also understand what your profession is and why it's important.
Publishers of this type of information: newspapers, professional journals, OSU departmental web managers, OSU alumni magazine editors.
Interview Reports
You will be conducting, primarily via oral interviews, research into the changing (techno) literacy practices in selected professions and related academic disciplines. Your research interviews will explore the changes in literacy activities (practices) that have occurred over last 5 years. They'll also include speculations (by you and your interviewees) on what is likely to occur in the next 5 years. You'll need to conduct at least three interviews with
juniors/seniors in a relevant major
faculty/graduate students in relevant academic disciplines and
professionals in the field
You will want to engage these good folks in conversations about the entire range of literate practices that make their work and research possible. Don't just ask about their "writing" and "reading" but also how, for instance, they
capture data or information (reading is one way to do this)
structure or organize that data or information
store and retrieve data or information
process, manipulate or arrange data or information in an effort to form their personal "knowledge" that they can then share with others
present or publish that knowledge
preserve this knowledge and reuse, repurpose, or "remediate" it (ask about this term in class).
capture more data or information ... you get the picture :-).
In these interviews, you will not just hold conversations, but try to meet these folks in the places where they work so that you can observe how they work and the environment in which they work. Of course a person's work space has a great of influence on what they produce, how they gather information, how they struggle to translate it (compose it) into something useful for their knowledge community, and how they distribute or publish that composition. You will not just be interested in what they say about their literacy practices, but also in the material conditions in which they work. Don't forget to take along a digital camera to collect images of the work space and the interviewees (if they are willing and give permission). They may be willing to share professional photographs of themselves or their work space if you ask.
Put together a Report on Professional Literacy Practices (but make up your own title) for each interview. I'll review your reports three times during the term: Bring these drafts to class on January 19, February 7, Feb. 23. The final versions will be due during the 10th week or Finals week when you present your Professional Blog and a summary of your findings (for all three reports) to the class. With permission, post your audio interview, images, notes, and summary reports on your professional blog. If your interviewee does not give you permission, create a CD of the audio interview, notes, summary report, and presentation for grading purposes.
Don't stop there! Use these interviews to get recommendations for your professional blogs. Give each interviewee a chance to describe the materials, resources, and events that help them keep up with their discipline or profession. Add these to your professional blog.
By the time term ends, these interviews and your professional blogs should give you a clearer sense of the literacy changes that are taking place within your discipline or profession. They will provide a resource collection point for you and others who are attempting to keep pace.
Audio Opinion on Technology Change
Write four entries, one about each of the following scenarios (~200 words). Make sure that each entry includes a "narrative" portion, a story, that illustrates the point you are making. The more detail the better.
Describe an important moment in your life that influenced your relationship with technology (Mine involved a lawnmower! :-).
Tell a story about how you learned a new communication technology.
Describe a situation (story) that illustrates some concern you have about the use of communication technologies in your profession.
Describe an experience that made you want to learn a new communication technology.
Rank the scenarios in terms of your interest (1 being the most interesting). Then follow these steps:
In groups (in class), record a round of responses to one of the four scenarios, one responce from each group member. Then move on to the second scenario and record all those responses. Your group will end up with 4 audio files!
Assign each person the responsibility of editing together the responses of one scenario. Feel free to check out a digital audio recorder to collect sound that supports your essay. Or add music (see Creative Commons for free sound). Your essay must still be 5 minutes or less. Be sure to get signed permissions from each person represented in your audio piece (see the Permissions file on the class site). Abide by standard intellectual property (IP), copyright, and fair-use guidelines when preparing your piece. Be sure to "cite" all materials used in your credits in the summary report that accompanies your audio documentary. Use APA style for these citations.
Edit a set of answers down to one 5 minute (or shorter) audio representing the views/stories of your group members and your own additional "take" on the set of stories you have collected.
Present your audio documentary to the class and participate in a roundtable discussion about these documentaries.
Each person should write a summary report (3-5 double-spaced pages) that includes two things: 1) the important points from the roundtable discussion and 2) a section that describes, if you had "world enough and time," how you might combine or improve the audio documentary you created. Be sure to include the citations and credits (talent, production help, music) at the end of this report. Use APA style for these citations.
Hand in the summary report and audio documentary on a CD.
E-WAVE Research on Professional Communication Practices : Written, Aural, & Visual
(Back to the Assignment Overview page)
The theory that drives this course suggests that ALL useful writing (or "composing") is completed for the benefit of a community with the expectation that some feedback or action will occur as a result. All writing or composing occurs, then, in the context of a knowledge community. The more we know about that knowledge community, the more likely our 'writing' will be useful, powerful, impressive, important, and worthy of action. When you write professionally, you aren't just writing. You are managing knowledge in and for a community.
The knowledge community associated with this class is the professional community that students hope to join when they graduate.
Professional Blog/Wiki Space
If you are going to write into a knowledge community, you need a space to which they have access. Blogs and wikis provide such a space and are well suited for our purposes.
Process:
Each person in the class will be creating blogs or wikis that provide a space for the serial collecting, annotating, and reviewing of professional materials or events:
From week 1 to week 9, I'll expect you to find, annotate, and review at least three sets of materials or events useful in your profession or in the academic disciplines related to that profession. By "find" I mean the obvious as well as collecting all the necessary bibliographic information so that you can cite these materials or events and so others can evaluate it/them for themselves (see Bedford St. Martin site for more details). By "annotate" I mean that you should direct us to the most important information (from your professional perspective) and accurately summarize what the material is about in 50 words or less. For instance, don't just give us the URL for a massive site. Direct us to the most useful material (deep linking). By "review" I mean give your perspective on the valuable of the materials or event. Reviews also provide a respectful "critique:" What's not there? What could you use in addition to these materials? Due Dates:
Four times during the term we'll share your blog work in class and I'll grade your professional blog.
Audiences:
Your professional blogs have many potential audiences. They include
- Me and other teachers in professional communication programs
- Other professionals who are working in the field or related fields (so that they can stay up to date)
- High school & young OSU students who are interested in these professions and academic areas.
- The general public so that they can understand the kind of work that goes on in these professions and disciplines. As a result, they'll also understand what your profession is and why it's important.
- Publishers of this type of information: newspapers, professional journals, OSU departmental web managers, OSU alumni magazine editors.
(Back to the Assignment Overview page)Interview Reports
You will be conducting, primarily via oral interviews, research into the changing (techno) literacy practices in selected professions and related academic disciplines. Your research interviews will explore the changes in literacy activities (practices) that have occurred over last 5 years. They'll also include speculations (by you and your interviewees) on what is likely to occur in the next 5 years. You'll need to conduct at least three interviews with
You will want to engage these good folks in conversations about the entire range of literate practices that make their work and research possible. Don't just ask about their "writing" and "reading" but also how, for instance, they
In these interviews, you will not just hold conversations, but try to meet these folks in the places where they work so that you can observe how they work and the environment in which they work. Of course a person's work space has a great of influence on what they produce, how they gather information, how they struggle to translate it (compose it) into something useful for their knowledge community, and how they distribute or publish that composition. You will not just be interested in what they say about their literacy practices, but also in the material conditions in which they work. Don't forget to take along a digital camera to collect images of the work space and the interviewees (if they are willing and give permission). They may be willing to share professional photographs of themselves or their work space if you ask.
Put together a Report on Professional Literacy Practices (but make up your own title) for each interview. I'll review your reports three times during the term: Bring these drafts to class on January 19, February 7, Feb. 23. The final versions will be due during the 10th week or Finals week when you present your Professional Blog and a summary of your findings (for all three reports) to the class. With permission, post your audio interview, images, notes, and summary reports on your professional blog. If your interviewee does not give you permission, create a CD of the audio interview, notes, summary report, and presentation for grading purposes.
Don't stop there! Use these interviews to get recommendations for your professional blogs. Give each interviewee a chance to describe the materials, resources, and events that help them keep up with their discipline or profession. Add these to your professional blog.
By the time term ends, these interviews and your professional blogs should give you a clearer sense of the literacy changes that are taking place within your discipline or profession. They will provide a resource collection point for you and others who are attempting to keep pace.
(Back to the Assignment Overview page)
Audio Opinion on Technology Change
Write four entries, one about each of the following scenarios (~200 words). Make sure that each entry includes a "narrative" portion, a story, that illustrates the point you are making. The more detail the better.
- Describe an important moment in your life that influenced your relationship with technology (Mine involved a lawnmower! :-).
- Tell a story about how you learned a new communication technology.
- Describe a situation (story) that illustrates some concern you have about the use of communication technologies in your profession.
- Describe an experience that made you want to learn a new communication technology.
Rank the scenarios in terms of your interest (1 being the most interesting). Then follow these steps:(Back to the Assignment Overview page)